Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

dublin49

as a team didnt play our best but thought ,Bundie ,Ringrose ,Beirne and others were great,It was Liverpool v Arsenal or Dublin V Kerry tonight and alot of the analysis would be so much different if nothing else changed in the match bar Kelleher touched down,the armchair experts always need a culprit or definitive reason why a game was won or lost and but tonights game so close at the end was decided by fate,it was there for either sIde but we will have to listen to usual Bxllicks about ABs wanting it more or us choking ,blah blah.

This is it

Don't even know what to say. Even with the mistakes, and the poor set pieces, I still thought we'd do it. Feel so sorry for the players, especially the ones that won't get another chance. Being a Leinster fan has been disappointing recently but at least you can go again every year, having to wait another 4 is torture. Proud of the effort, but incredibly disappointed.

Clegg

Andy Farrell has confirmed that Keith Earls is now retired as well. Congrats to Johnny and he for incredible careers.

We've now open positions at 10 and in the wider squad for wing cover. JOB can potentially fill that squad spot. Did well in his 25 minutes on the pitch this evening. In the short term we'll have Lowe and Hansen remain as our 11 & 14, but the former is 31 and will need replacing eventually.

Flyhalf is a bigger issue. Sexton is not only our best ever 10, but also our best ever player. There's going to be so much pressure on whomever steps up. Crowley looks the man in front as immediate successor. But he needs a lot of development time at Munster as well to round his game. It's not ideal and I don't think he's ready, but the likes of Carbery, R Byrne, Burns and Carty just aren't cutting it.

I don't know what O'Mahony's plans are, but he'll need replacing as well. If not next season then in the next two. And that role will be just as hard to fill as Sexton's. He does so much work in the lineout and at the ruck. I don't know if there's a forward in Ireland that can do it as well. Could be that we need to rework our tactics to change the the role our blindside fulfills. Baird is a freakish athletic talent and could be the way forward.

RichieRich_89

'Why peak against Scotland?' is what I keep thinking. It's a very difficult thing to do to play a great game 7 days after you hit a peak. I suppose you can't deliberately aim to play less well than you can against a good side, but playing as well as they did does make it very difficult to put your best foot forward a week later.

And 13-0, come on. I only had it on the radio because the Virgin Media player wouldn't work so I didn't see it but that's just what you have to avoid in the first quarter. Years of preparation by Farrell to try to avoid that and they can't do it on the day.

They stuck at it at least. Even when things weren't working they kept plugging away and could have won it with a bit more luck. Making it a close, one-score game against a top four team playing well is progress for an Ireland QF. Ireland making progress is about as incremental as it could be though.

Incredibly disappointed with that. There's no other challenge big enough for this team. This was their moment.

TRC10

Another World Cup, another bottle job. That NZ team we're there for the taking. So many chances to win that game and we wilted in the big moments. France or SA will do a job on them. That was the ONE game we had to peak for, and be at our best, and in typical Irish rugby fashion we bottled it.

All the hype, world no.1 blah blah blah, won a couple pool games, and they fell at the first hurdle. Another 4 years as the laughing stock of World Rugby.

Clegg

Congrats on the win tonight TRC.

clsmooth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121239900#Comment_121239900

The one game we had to peak for? That’s not actually true is it with the group we were in and how the fixtures fell? Laughing stock of world rugby? Why? Did you feel teams were laughing at us over the last 4 years? It’s it because we lost a close game against NZ who produced an excellent performance? Does that make you a laughing stock? Doesn’t take much does it?

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121239923#Comment_121239923

The one game we had to peak for?

Yes. The draw was made 3 years ago. It didn't take a genius to know that this was the "big one". Get past this and we have a very winnable semi to make a final. But we celebrated pool wins and did laps of honour as though we'd won a World Cup. NZ were probably laughing at us.

Laughing stock of world rugby? Why?

Supposedly a big rugby nation, yet never made it past the last 8 in a tournament with at most 10 decent teams. World no.1, 17 win streak, and out at the quarters to the worst NZ side in decades.

noc1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121239941#Comment_121239941

It's fair to bring up the laps of honour. I thought Farrell was a bit too quick to bash those who questioned those celebrations last week, the Scotland celebrations weren't too bad but they were way over the top against South Africa. Farrell would have been right to have a go after winning the world cup but after qualifying for the knockout stages? Too soon. The fact he even brought it up suggested there was some insecurity in camp.

Mr Disco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121239962#Comment_121239962

Farrell has been exposed at this world cup. It would be folly to give him another

Clegg

Genuinely think I've been watching a different tournament to you lot. There were no victory laps in any WC game. Farrell and the rest of the Ireland team have been at pains to state that they want to show their gratitude to the Ireland fans who have travelled and lent their support.

But go ahead and keep lying if that makes you feel better.

ersatz

Coaching masterclass from NZ brains trust tonight. Minute 1 they were carrying direct, straight up the middle. It was very un AB and forced Ireland to defend in numbers making the breakdown the centerpiece for the first quarter. Queue breakdown penalties and 3 pointers. Build pressure on a vulnerable lineout knowing Ireland will go to the corner. Those 2 chip kicks regathered by BB and Savea exploited the space that the breakdown battle and deep kicks created. I think Hansen's injury contributed to that space being available. I just kept seeing Schmidt with his hand on his chin during those sequences, glinty eyed. Seeing the ABs incorporate fresh tactics like that almost on the fly is one big difference between perennial World Cup winners and the rest. Those chips are an example of a tactic tailor made to deal with the AB defensive speed, yet Ireland didn't use it.

NZ won that game well though the score was tight. Hats off to them.

It wasnt me

Pass yourself as an intellect,they'd wet their pants

Yeah_Right

Lads. Hell of a game. Sorry Ireland had to lose. Best I've seen the ABs in a long time. And I don't mean attacking wise, I mean for stubborn dogged defensiveness. What an effort.

Hold your heads up. Kia kaha. Respect.

phog

Gutted for Sexton & Earls, two servants of Irish Rugby and both retiring after another RWC QF loss. You'd hope whoever receives their baton can break that duck in the next RWC.

There's been some great memories too though and we shouldn't forget that after a loss like last night.

TheRona

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121239900#Comment_121239900

I thought this thread would be safe from a lot of the rubbish posted on the match thread, but it seems you have to endure this crap in here too.

Ireland were second best across almost every facet of play, and were still inches from winning. They very nearly found a way, like the very best sides do.

Laughing stock of World Rugby? This team has gained nothing but respect from rugby supporters around the world over the last few years, and with the systems in place, the future looks bright.

You also need to give NZ more credit for how they played. There's no evidence that France or SA will destroy them. NZ forwards performed how SA's did against Ireland, but they also have the firepower to score tries from anywhere. If they play like they did tonight, they will be a challenge for anyone. They definitely won't be taking a victory over Argentina as a given, either.

I know a good few Irish rugby supporters, and they're all decent lads who get in behind the team and are proud of what they've achieved over the last few years. I know that not one of them are going to kick them while they're down, I have no idea what satisfaction you get from being 'that guy'. Maybe you need to pick a different sport to follow, or maybe sport isn't for you at all.

tmc1963

As has been regularly mentioned we’ve all known about the draw for ages so no point complaining now, but……….if SA get beaten by France tonight then all 3 of the top 5 that were in Pool B are gone. It’s just not right.

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240214#Comment_121240214

It's quite possible that all the NH teams be out after tonight such a trend has started.

riddles

It was stated after last world cup Sexton at 38 was too old to be around at the next world. last night confirmed that.

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240285#Comment_121240285

He wasn't too old to be around at this world cup at all, personally I felt he needed taken off with 10/15 mins to go, but that doesn't mean he was too old for the WC

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240225#Comment_121240225

England will beat Fiji.

France SA is impossible to call other than to say that when France get their tails up in Paris they are very hard to subdue.

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240214#Comment_121240214

I was consoling myself last night with the fact that in reality does it matter if you get knocked out in the QF or SF? It matters now I suppose, but post tournament it means little.

Of course the annoying thing is if we won last night we'd almost certainly have reached the final and that's the devastating part.

riddles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240285#Comment_121240285

Too old to be a pivotal player as opposed to being around.

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240173#Comment_121240173

They very nearly found a way, like the very best sides do.

But they didn't. When the opportunities came, they wilted. Kelleher getting white line fever, Sexton missing the kick, Sheehan not taking Hansen's kick, Doris' knock on (surprise, surprise) and all the other coughed up ball in their 22. NZ were there for the taking and we failed to capitalise. That's not something to celebrate. Not to mention completely not showing up for the first 20, which we do in literally every quarter final, and the scrum and lineout going to absolute pot.

People want it both ways. They want to call us the best team in the world before the match, and then when we lose treat us like plucky underdogs who earned some moral victory. It's rubbish. We had the chances to win that game and we bottled it.

And also, the "very best sides" get past the last 8.

riddles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240382#Comment_121240382

Spot on heroic defeat was not the planned objective. The performance in the first 20,was that of bottlers.

Clegg

TRC you genuinely add nothing of value to a discussion. Just a list of talking points that you've been proven wrong about time after time and a narrative of the game which is just a straight up lie.

You've a list of players you don't like and have been waiting for any chance to get a dig in.

riddles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240418#Comment_121240418

Your post quite literally added nothing of value to the discussion

Nigzcurran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240464#Comment_121240464

Take your doom and gloom elsewhere please, its rather tiresome

Morgans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121240602#Comment_121240602

You don't think they have developed Crowley in the last 18 months? Would losing games in the 6N actually mean a outhalf is developed? Do you really think that the Irish players console themselves with being world no 1, or is just lazy pundits and arseholes on the internet who are pretending they like the game to earn a living and troll fans?